Tag Archives: Mark Webber

With the famous Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place at Monza this weekend, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a look back at the 2013 race, which Any Given Reason attended. If you can’t be there in person you might as well be there in spirit, right?

This post won’t attempt a blow-by-blow account of the race because you can find that elsewhere, written by far more knowledgeable and experienced scribes than myself. This post aims to give a glimpse of what it’s actually like to attend the Italian GP; information that doesn’t make the international broadcast.

The Monza circuit is situated near the city of Monza, around 50km north of Milan in northern Italy. Below it sits Italy’s motor valley and the homes of Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and Pagani are all less than a couple of hours drive away. Around 30km north of Monza sits Lake Como, the gateway to the Alps and the rest of Europe. Monza is the spiritual home of modern Formula 1, and is the only circuit to have held a round of the World Championship every year since its inception. Continue reading →

Most Australian Formula One fans probably share my distaste for the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team. It doesn’t seem to be run in an exactly sporting manner, and the treatment given to Webber in his final seasons in the sport leaves a lot to be desired. But… put all that aside for one moment. There’s a whole lot more to Red Bull than Formula One, and it is all on free display in the excellent Hangar-7 complex at Austria’s Salzburg Airport.

The personal project of energy drink tzar and aviation/motorsport enthusiast Dietrich Mateschitz, the Austrian genius who made it big by marketing a little known Thai energy drink to the world, Hangar-7 houses his collection of aircraft (called The Flying Bulls) and an assortment of Red Bull sponsored racing cars and bikes.

But just leaving it at that would be selling it short, as Hangar-7 is much more. In addition to the cars and the planes and the bikes it is full of art and sculpture, and functions also as an entertainment space, concert hall and gallery. Continue reading →

I originally wrote this article for VeloceToday.com, and it can be found here on their website. I extend my utmost thanks to them for allowing me to re-post it here on anygivenreason.com.

Formula 1 has always been the holy grail of motorsport. It doesn’t matter if you’re a driver, an engineer, an official or even just a spectator, the FIA’s premiere category has an attraction that no true motor racing fan can deny. It was this magnetic-like pull that brought me to Melbourne for the opening round of the 2012 season. Being there live is a world class experience. No matter how many cameras are used to televise the event, no TV coverage can match. In many respects, TV does a very poor job of portraying what actually makes Formula 1 so special. Continue reading →